Carroll shares Seahawks’ thinking on Ryan Tannehill

We may never know exactly how much the Seahawks liked Ryan Tannehill or whether they would have taken the former Texas A&M quarterback had he still been available when Seattle made its first-round pick.

Coach Pete Carroll didn’t offer any definitive answers on the subject during his appearance on “The Kevin Calabro Show” last week.

Pete Carroll says the Seahawks would have considered taking Ryan Tannehill, who went eighth overall to Miami. (AP)

Well, except for one.

Did Tannehill’s performance during his pro day workout really leave Carroll “giggling like a schoolgirl” as Peter King’s report suggested?

“Well, first off, I don’t know who the guy is that wrote that and I don’t know what giggling like that would look like,” Carroll said, seemingly a tad amused by the notion. “I can’t imagine how he interpreted that. I might have been having fun with John Schneider, telling some stories or something like that but it wasn’t about the workout. So that’s a bunch of garbage.”

Carroll’s assessment of Tannehill matched up with his reputation as a supremely talented but raw prospect.

“This is a really exciting player. He has all the right makeup to be just what you’re looking for because of his stature, his arm strength and his running ability and [he’s] a smart kid,” Carroll said. “He did not have a lot of play time behind him. He started something like 16 games or whatever it was, and he didn’t finish as well this past year as he had played the year before. So there was some question marks there.”

There were some who thought — or in King’s case, were certain — that the Seahawks would have taken Tannehill if he were still there. The fact that the Seahawks took Russell Wilson in third round shows they were open to the idea of drafting a quarterback despite not having an overriding need at the position.

Seattle never got the chance. Tannehill went eighth to the Dolphins, a team that had plenty of familiarity with him. Mike Sherman, Miami’s offensive coordinator, was Tannehill’s head coach at Texas A&M. The Seahawks traded back from 12 to 15 and took pass-rusher Bruce Irvin, a player they said they targeted.

“It wasn’t a lock that we would take [Tannehill] but he was definitely a guy that we would consider. Miami, they have the background with the same coach and all that from his college days,” Carroll said. “We didn’t think he’d ever get past [the Dolphins]. We thought that would really be a big sign that we would have to interpret during the draft if they didn’t take him because we thought it was just a lock that they would.”